Charleston, SC – March 7, 2013 – AP Laboratories LLC has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in laboratories. The accreditation award recognizes AP Laboratories’ dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.

Charleston, SC – March 7, 2013 – AP Laboratories LLC has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety in laboratories. The accreditation award recognizes AP Laboratories’ dedication to continuous compliance with The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards.

AP Laboratories LLC underwent a rigorous on-site survey in January 2013. A Joint Commission expert evaluated AP Laboratories for compliance with standards of care that directly affect the quality and safety of diagnostic services and patient care. ”

Achieving Joint Commission accreditation has always been our goal at AP Laboratories. With Joint Commission Accreditation, we are taking our organization to the next level and letting our clients and their patients know we are creating a culture of excellence. Everyone within our organization, from the top down was committed to this goal and made this achievement possible. Staff involvement in the accreditation process was vital to the success of the on-site survey because of the tracer methodology which focuses on the care of our client’s patients. Our clients strive for a higher level of excellence in patient care,” said Thomas Carico, MD, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AP Laboratories. “For our organization, achieving Joint Commission accreditation is a major step toward providing that higher level excellence and continually helping improve the care our clients provide to their patients.” The Joint Commission has been evaluating and accrediting laboratory services since 1979. Today, The Joint Commission accredits almost 2,000 organizations providing laboratory services. This represents almost 3,000 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment certificate laboratories, including independent reference labs and in vitro fertilization labs, and those connected with other health care organizations such as hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and long-term care facilities.

The Joint Commission’s laboratory standards emphasize the results a laboratory should achieve instead of emphasizing the technical methods of performing testing, and were developed with input from professional laboratory organizations. Joint Commission standards address processes that follow laboratory specimens from the doctor’s order into the laboratory from specimen collection then back to the patient through result reporting, focusing on the provision of high quality, safe laboratory services integrated with patient care. These standards highlight the essential nature of laboratory services on the actual care and service delivery processes that contribute to and support the overall health care delivery system.

“Our organization is growing and continues to look for ways to improve our quality of service to our clients and their patients. Our organizations ongoing compliance with Joint Commission standards results in sound management practices in the day-to-day delivery of safe, high quality care; for example: The first step in assuring an accurate diagnosis is proper patient identification. Each specimen is recorded and checked, then double checked for accuracy. A Joint Commission survey helps serve as an independent audit of our organization, emphasizing our continued commitment to quality improvement within our organization and to patient care,” said Ricky Wolfe, MD, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AP Laboratories.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,600 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,600 other health care organizations that provide long term care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also certifies more than 2,400 disease-specific care programs such as stroke, heart failure, joint replacement and stroke rehabilitation, and 400 health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.